The Mahalo U-30 Painted Ukulele adds a new layer of fun to an already enjoyable instrument. Available in a choice of painted finishes, each value-packed U-30 comes with its own gig bag for easy and safe transportation to the Beach or the weekly lesson.

This little Uke is killer for the money. Like I said, the strings are crap, the tuners are cheap-but outside that, it's ace all-around.

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this to ANYONE who wants to get started in Uke playing, OR to anyone with young kids they want to teach about instruments-this gives them a child size instrument (it's about the size of a parlour guitar on my daughter) to take care of, clean, and care for, keep tuned, and all that. AND, if they neglect it, you've only lost going to Starbucks for a couple of weeks. Nothing major, so, it's not such a heartbreak.

I will be ordering a second one (for me-I'm going to get the Smiley Face and "Watchmen" it out-my daughter's got the Starry paintjob) as a backup to my Iby Uke. For a basic little Uke, this thing's pretty decent. I mean, the strings are pretty crap, and the tuners are cheap-but other than that, it's made soild, and it's got a nice feeling neck to it.

They don't tell you in the description, but it DOES come with a cheap little Bottom-Load gigbag (I hate those, personally-they knock your gear out of tune).It plays solid. It sounds solid. It's made pretty darn solid, too! My daughter accidentally stepped on hers last night-she weighs about 40lbs. No problem. Now, I'm not saying you should jump up and down on this-it's a Ukulele, not a bouncy fun house.I cannot think of a better Uke for the money. This one LOOKS good, it SOUNDS good, it PLAYS good, and it's a great price.

My PERSONAL Uke is an Ibanez UKS10 (not top of the line, but a GREAT little Uke-it's also twice the cost of this one), and I'd stack this one up against it any day.

For the price, this could make a decent toss-in-your-car-to-play-in-traffic-jams instrument, a nice thing to throw in the backpack, or, like what I did, a GREAT way to introduce young kids to stringed instruments without breaking the bank!

VS

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Ukepatookie

I have ordered a couple dozen instruments from MF. This uke is cute, and paint colors as advertised. However, I find lots of irregularities in the paint job (noticeable...Read complete review

I have ordered a couple dozen instruments from MF. This uke is cute, and paint colors as advertised. However, I find lots of irregularities in the paint job (noticeable "chips", paint moved, missed paint spots--I think because of the flag pattern--used a stencil or something), and for some reason, this instrument just won't stay in tune. I'm assuming it's something with the synthetic strings... going to give it a couple more months of use and time to stretch, etc, but find it out of the ordinary for MF instruments to be like this.

I got the yellow smiley-face Mahalo about six months ago. I'm 61 years old, and started on ukulele when I was 12, then switched to guitar as I entered high school (guitar seemed "cooler" at the time!), and eventually decided to re-visit the uke again after all these years as a guitar player. I'm loving the simplicity and unique sound of the uke, and finding it great fun to explore its possibilities from my "older person" perspective! Very rewarding! This inexpensive yellow smiley-face Mahalo, however, has something special: a tone that is bright and plinky, with a sort of "edge" to it, and which is unlike the tone of any other uke I have acquired (and I have several; if you're reading this, you probably know how that is!). I also have the regular white-painted Mahalo, and the tone of that one is noticeably more mellow and understated than that of the smiley-face. It's hard to describe, but when I try them side-by-side, the difference is very apparent. It's not that the tone of one is necessarily "better" than the tone of the other, but I have to say, I really like the bright, edgy, almost "funky" tone of the smiley-face, though I cannot account for why it produces that special tone. I have been using D'Addario Nyltech Soprano "Natural Nylon" strings (Set #EJ88S). That of course is part of the equation; and I have been tuning the uke up to the A-D-F#-B tuning, which gives it a nice crispness I don't get with the G-C-E-A tuning. (I use those strings and that tuning on my other ukes too.) I did notice that the smiley-face seemed to intonate just a little bit "flat" from-open-string-to- twelfth-fret, so I carefully pulled the saddle piece out of the bridge and shimmed it up a little with a couple of skillfully snipped slivers of credit card. This not only corrected the flat intonation, but also raised the action a little, which may have contributed to the tonal edginess. Bottom line: this smiley-face Mahalo is a great value. It has given me tons of fun and relaxation, and I love its special tone!

I have ordered a couple dozen instruments from MF. This uke is cute, and paint colors as advertised. However, I find lots of irregularities in the paint job (noticeable "chips", paint moved, missed paint spots--I think because of the flag pattern--used a stencil or something), and for some reason, this instrument just won't stay in tune. I'm assuming it's something with the synthetic strings... going to give it a couple more months of use and time to stretch, etc, but find it out of the ordinary for MF instruments to be like this.

Sturdy and lightweight design that is great for little fingers just learning to hold and strum. Great picture quality. We ordered the signs of the zodiac. The tone is OK but easily comes out of tune and it is a constant tune process. Yes the strings stretch out, but it has been weeks now and this is just because of the poor string quality. Overall, a very nice piece of equipment, great price and my children love it and enjoy hearing the tunes they can produce.

This uke's visual appeal is obvious. The strings that are on it are playable but most people will be happier with a string change right away. The finish is really shoddy. There are paint runs in one area and the wood sealer chipped off in another area. (They painted over it anyway.) So, don't expect total perfection. The frets are even, smooth and nice and the tuners are more than reliable. I HATE this line when others use it BUT... For this price, I love it. It's the perfect uke for a student or starter.